Yes, there are rubber plugs that you put in and tighten with a nut in the
center. These are simpler to use with the engine in place because the metal
ones have to be driven in and it is hard to get a straight go at the block
while it is in the boat. That is a good recomendation. If you can get
behind the mount that would be the best as I'm sure you've figured out :-)

If not you will need to support the engine on that side while you remove the
motor mount. Sounds like you are prety handy since you've spotted the
casting plug problem. If you place some wood in the bottom of the boat you
should be able to get a hydralic bottle jack to hold up the side of the
engine at the edge of the oil pan where it is bolted to the bottom of the
block. You will have to play around with wood scraps to get a flat platform
to rest the bottle jack on. You want to distibute the load on the bottom of
the boat as much as is practical with the wood. Probably 2-300 lbs of load
involved so it is not a lot worse than a big guy standing on one foot. You
may also need to place a small scrap of wood on top of the bottle jack to
keep from crushng the edge of the oil pan. Typically there is not enough
room directly under the oil pan for a jack, that's why you have to go at the
edge of the block. Break the bolts that hold the mount on the block free
but do not loosen. Remove the top big nut on the boat end of the mount.
Then jack just until the engine mount starts to lift a little. Then you
should be able to remove the mount from the block. As you can imagine try
to make sure the bottle jack is solidly in place and take care not to jar
anything any more than you have to while the side of the engine is on the
jack. Of course do not reach under the engine either. Have everything
ready to go so that you can complete the repair and do not have to leave the
engine on the jack any longer than needed. Be careful because we don't want
any injured rec.boat posters :-)

"landshrk4" wrote in message
ps.com...

jamesgangnc wrote:
Are you sure that no one has removed the drains on the manifolds or the
sides of the block? Both locations have removable plugs designed to
allow the engine to be drained for winter. When I winterize my boat I
take them out and leave them out until spring.

It is not old enough for corrosion to have taken out the casting aka
"freeze" plugs unless someone mistakely used steel ones when it was
built. One of the differences in marine engines is the use of brass
casting plugs isntead of steel ones.

Changing the impeller in the outdrive would not have any effect on the
water coming out the sides of your engine so this is a different
problem. When the original impeller went south how long did the engine
run overheated? Perhaps the overheating could have had some other
effect leading to this problem. Such as melted water or exhaust hoses
on the manifolds. The manifolds will get very hot if the boat is run
for any length of time without cooling water. The rubber parts in and
connected to the exhaust system will not take it for long before they
melt.

The motor only ran long enough for me to park my truck/trailer and
for the wife to pull to the dock to pick me up. I would roughly guess
around 3 - 5 minutes. Following the replies last night, I went back
into the engine compartment and found one of the expansion plugs laying
next to the bilage pump. The other plug is still in but must be cocked
for it is leaking. This one will be a problem for it is directly
behind a motor mount.

I am going to purchase a couple of plugs and install them to see if
there are any other pending (hidden) issues. I had been told that I
could get expansion plugs from a local parts dealer that are expandable
by way of a bolt instead of the "tap in" types that would be supplied
by Volvo (or aftermarket). Has anyone used these types of plugs? Can
anyone recommend how to replace the plug that is behind the motor
mount? It would be much easier to take it to a local repair shop but I
want to do the work myself.... how else am I to learn the
fundamentals?